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Men’s March Madness tips off with Purdue, Creighton advancing

NEW YORK (AP) — NCAA Tournament play is underway. Purdue and Creighton were among the first teams to advance into the second round of March Madness. Louisville was one and done. Tens of thousands filled out brackets in hopes of winning the office poll or at least a bit of respect. Who will win it all? Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston are the top seeds. Games to watch Connecticut vs. Oklahoma, Friday. UConn has a chance to be the first program to win three straight NCAA titles since Hall of Fame coach John Wooden led UCLA to a seventh straight title in 1973. UConn is seeded No. ...

Kentucky relying on newcomers to end history of postseason frustration

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Lamont Butler’s Final Four background has earned him a nickname as the former San Diego State guard attempts to end Kentucky’s recent pattern of March sadness. “It’s LaMarch,” teammate Andrew Carr quipped. “That’s what we call him.” Butler sank a buzzer-beating jumper against Florida Atlantic to send San Diego State to the 2023 NCAA Tournament championship game, where it lost to UConn. Now he’s one of nine transfers trying to help Kentucky undergo a postseason reversal of fortune. Kentucky (22-11) is the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region heading ...

Ohio State looks to add to perfect home record

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State’s last home loss was particularly painful. Cotie McMahon and the Buckeyes are hoping to avoid that feeling this weekend. Ohio State is 15-0 at home this season going into the NCAA women’s tournament. If the Buckeyes win two more games at Value City Arena, they will move into the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons. The fourth-seeded Buckeyes (25-6) host No. 13 seed Montana State (30-3) in the first round on Friday. The winner moves on to face either Tennessee or South Florida on Sunday. Ohio State’s last home loss was against Duke in ...

Family of Menendez brothers rejects prosecutor’s criticism

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of Erik and Lyle Menendez on Thursday rejected claims by the Los Angeles district attorney that the brothers hadn’t appropriately taken responsibility for the 1989 killing of their parents and said that any lies they told during their murder trial were due to trauma and fear. “Kids lie when they’re scared, when they feel intimidated, and when they become traumatized. They lie when they don’t know who to trust. But they grow up, they learn, and they take responsibility,” said Tamara Goodell, a cousin of the brothers who spoke Thursday at a rally ...

Taliban release U.S. citizen abducted while in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped broker, the State Department said Thursday. George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained the following year. In a statement, Secretary of ...

Man sentenced for pressuring Chinese ex-pat to go home

NEW YORK (AP) — A real estate businessman who aided a Chinese effort to pressure an expatriate to return home has been sentenced to over a year in a U.S. prison. U.S. prosecutors say Quanzhong An’s activities were part of the Chinese government’s “Operation Fox Hunt,” which Beijing says is about pursuing people who have fled justice. Washington sees it as transnational repression, a term for governments working to silence dissenters beyond their borders. “Quanzhong An acted at the direction of the (Chinese) government to harass and intimidate individuals living on U.S. ...